Monday, December 8, 2014

This Holiday
Season, Tahoe SAFE Alliance has much to be thankful for.We are grateful for the hundreds of women,
men, teens, and children that have found their voice.Women like Olivia, 18, who is a survivor of
sexual assault.She has found healing
through talking and sharing her story with others.And women like Celia, 32, who is a survivor
of domestic violence.She has found
light where before there was darkness.She and her two children are now able to live happy, healthy, violence
free lives.

We are
thankful for the special people who support our work – through volunteering,
action, and financial gifts.We couldn’t
help the hundreds of men, women, teens, and children that seek our services
without the support from our North Lake Tahoe and Truckee community.These individuals ensure that our services –
the very safety net for abuse victims – are available tomorrow and for years to
come.

This Holiday
Season, we are also reminded that there is more work to be done.Educating our community about the violence
and abuse that is happening in North Lake Tahoe and Truckee is extremely
important so that those in violent situations know about our services. And, to help community members be better equipped to help our
family, friends, and neighbors when we see or hear it. And, if we are to be successful at ending violence, it's important that we educate youth,
businesses, and adults about violence prevention, safety, and healthy
relationships.

Furthermore,
raising awareness about Tahoe SAFE Alliance’s mission is important in helping
to raise money for our programs and services and ensuring the financial health
of the organization.We have a
multi-faceted fundraising strategy that includes financial gifts from
individuals.It is support from
community members that make our organization strong.

End of year
donations are important.As we geared up
for our annual end of year appeal, we received a special gift from a local
community member.This passionate family
financially supported the creation of a Public Service Announcement to help us broaden
awareness and financial support.We
worked with the talented and experienced Jameson Media Group and recruited
Reno’s Channel 2 Evening News Anchor Wendy Damonte to communicate the domestic
violence crisis and Tahoe SAFE Alliance’s financial need.

We are very
excited about the PSA and it holds significance as it’s the first created for
and by a domestic violence organization in Northern Nevada.It will run on Reno’s Channel 2 in December
and February.We hope that it will raise
awareness about this important issue and increase much needed funds for Tahoe
SAFE Alliance.

As you watch
the video, please be reminded of the 787 community members that Tahoe SAFE
Alliance helped last year.We answered 404
emergency calls on our 24-hour crisis line.Eight women and 15 children took shelter in our Safe House.We provided 1,688 legal services to 133
clients.And, 31 children were given 1:1
counseling with a licensed Marriage & Family Therapist Intern.

Please help us raise awareness and share this video with family and friends. We hope that it will motivate community members to get involved and join the movement to ending violence in our families and schools. If we are to stop violence, it takes all of us working together.

Monday, September 22, 2014

Recent events surrounding the NFL,
the Baltimore Ravens, and Ray Rice have vaulted conversations about domestic
violence to headline status. We at Tahoe SAFE Alliance applaud the NFL for
taking new and progressive steps in response to NFL players who commit domestic
violence and the Baltimore Raven’s for releasing Ray Rice because of his
actions.However we feel that the new
policies and reactionary punishments will not be sufficient in preventing
violence against women by players in the NFL.Much more needs to be done including on-going, progressive prevention
and education efforts.

Since 2000 80 NFL players have been arrested for
domestic violence. The total amount of games those players were suspended for?
11. Most of those suspensions were for one game and handed out to those players
who plead guilty. It is also important to note the combined time that these
players spent in jail? Less than 10 days.

Make no mistake; the difference
between the Ray Rice incident and other NFL domestic violence incidents is that
Rice committed his crime in a space that happened to be being filmed. Shortly
after the NFL revised its policy on handling domestic violence incidents, San
Francisco 49ers defensive tackle Ray McDonald was arrested on felony suspicion
of domestic abuse.49ers coach Jim
Harbaugh, and NFL Commissioner Goodell have chosen not to take action with any
penalty while the case is “being looked into”.

Their reasoning?The NFL has
traditionally not gotten involved in issues of domestic abuse unless there is a
conviction or some damning evidence.However, national statistics show that only a small percentage of
individuals arrested for domestic violence are ultimately convicted. The
reason?Attackers in domestic abuse have
an advantage most criminals don’t.They
have an intimate relationship with their victim and know how to appeal for
sympathy. All too often in domestic violence cases the victims are silenced by their relationship.

The recent incidents in the NFL are catapulting
domestic violence to the forefront of our nation’s attention.

However, domestic
violence in our society has remained a serious problem in the United States.
One in 4 women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime. An
estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate
partner every year. But more importantly, domestic violence kills: more than 3
women a day lose their lives at the hand of their abuser.In fact, Nevada ranks #5 in the nation in
domestic violence murders.And, these
numbers are low when you consider most cases of domestic violence are never
reported to the police.Just like
reported NFL domestic violence issues are only a fraction of the total number
of instances.

In addition to the immediate trauma of the
abuse inflicted on victims of domestic violence, both physical and emotional,
victims are often re-traumatized by a society that all too often blames
them for the violence that was inflicted upon. Victims of domestic violence
stay in abusive relationships (and may defend their abuser) for all sorts of
reasons: love, fear, embarrassment, children/family, and economic isolation,
among many others. It takes profound strength, and often many attempts (on
average 8), for a victim to leave an abusive relationship. These survivors
should be praised for their strength, rather than blamed for not leaving.

We should all be asking victims “How can I
help?” instead of “Why do you stay?”

Last year, Tahoe SAFE Alliance provided
direct services to 787 survivors of domestic/intimate partner violence, sexual
violence, and child abuse in North Lake Tahoe and Truckee.Of this, 425 were survivors of violence and
abuse who received services such as safe housing, counseling and support,
filing Emergency Protective and Temporary Restraining Orders, and assistance
with divorce and child custody issues.Furthermore, we work hard every single day to create a violence free
culture by educating school children, local businesses, and community members
on violence prevention, safety, and healthy relationships.

Recently, the NFL
announced it has tapped 4 women experienced in crimes against women to
help craft the development and implementation of the league's policies,
resources, and outreach on issues of domestic violence and sexual assault. This
includes Rita Smith, the former Executive Director of the National Coalition
Against Domestic Violence. We at Tahoe SAFE Alliance applaud these latest
efforts and, while this is a step in the right direction, we challenge the NFL
to use their public platform to demonstrate leadership when setting policies
that other sports franchises and business and industry, can adopt and model. This includes providing progressive,
comprehensive, and on-going education to teach players about healthy
relationships and information on ending violence against women.

Tahoe SAFE Alliance believes violence is a
learned behavior and therefore can be prevented.We call on all men in our community to stand
up and take responsibility for their actions and words and to be role models to
our youth.Together, we can stop abuse
and make our community a safe place for everyone. To donate, volunteer, or get
involved go to www.tahoesafealliance.org.

Monday, July 14, 2014

In this guest post, Paul Bancroft of Tahoe
SAFE Alliance weaves together
bell hooks’s power and privilege theory with his own standing as a white male
in the domestic violence prevention field to explore how one can make a
difference as an insider and outsider in a movement.

bell hooksrocks
my world. I first encountered her work in grad school. Her writings on
race, gender, and class have resurfaced over the years, most notably in two
recent encounters. I purchased a copy of her bookA Will to Changeand, as I opened it to
begin reading, I discovered that it had been signed by her. Definitely a bonus
when buying used books! A week later, a quote from the same book surfaced at a
retreat I attended as a participant in theStrong Field Project Leadership Development Program.
We were asked to read different quotes that were taped onto the walls and then
choose one that resonated with us and share it with our peers. Of all of
the quotes, this one from bell hooks spoke to me:

“In the
dominator model the pursuit of external power, the ability to manipulate and
control others, is what matters most. When culture is based on a dominator
model, not only will it be violent but it will frame all relationships as power
struggles”.

I chose this quote because it articulates one of the bigger
issues that I think the domestic violence (DV) field is facing. DV intersects
with a myriad of other forms of oppression. bell hooks uses the phrase “imperialist
white-supremacist capitalist patriarchy” to describe our political system.
While her description may be open to interpretation and unpacking it deserves
its own blog entry, I would argue that it also describes many of our social
systems and it is a useful reminder that there are multiple oppressive systems
at play that need to be addressed if we are really going to work towards ending
DV.

The power in being tactically inside and
strategically outside

As a field, are we reaching out, sharing victories
and challenges with, and learning from other movements like those organizing
around immigrant and LGTBQIA rights, worker’s rights, economic justice and
access to health care? Can we do a better job of working together towards
systematic changes with the vantage point of, as Paulo Freire puts it, “being
tactically inside and strategically outside”? The DV field operates
within “the system” as we are primarily funded by local, state, and federal
dollars. Similarly, we rely on the criminal justice system to hold abusers
accountable and provide various forms of support for those experiencing abuse.
Yet we are also situated outside of “the system,” since we can locate ourselves
within the broader social justice movement.

bell hooks frequently addresses privilege and power in her
writings. Her writings resonate with me because of how I interpret her work. I
believe she advocates for creating space where, for instance, men can work as
allies in the DV field, white people can work as allies in the fight for racial
justice, and heterosexual people can work as allies towards LGBTIQA rights.
This is possible as long as we are aware of and willing to take ownership of
our privilege and the power we hold.

Understanding and using power and privilege to
work as an ally
As a white, educated, middle-class male who has been involved in social justice
work for many years, I have learned how to use my power and privilege in a way
that is consistent with “being tactically inside and strategically outside.” I
can use my white maleness to gain access to relationships, information, and
resources to benefit the community members whom we serve. I feel I am in a
unique position to be able to challenge other men’s sexist behavior. I
have helped bridge the language gap between English and Spanish speaking
community members, and I have used my inherent male privilege to gain access to
and influence the decision making of law enforcement as it pertains to victims
and survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault.

People with power and privilegecanwork as
allies and are not merely participants in the “White Savior Industrial
Complex.” In other words, if people constantly work on awareness and own their
power and privilege, listen, ask questions, build relationships, critique (especially
themselves), and understand the history and context in which they operate, then
they can work from a genuine place; not just come in to “save” those less
fortunate folks. In
order to own my power and privilege I need to understand why it exists in the
first place by asking, “What systems are in place that perpetuate that power and privilege? Who
benefits and who suffers as a result of these systems? My work is to use
my power and privilege to dismantle the systems that maintain it, to challenge the
status quo, and to be an ally.

One of my favorite quotes as adapted from Antonio Machado is “we
make the road by walking.” Let’s create the space to walk together where we
collectively work to make the world a better place.

Friday, May 16, 2014

April was a busy month full of
national observance and recognition days that tie into Tahoe SAFE Alliance’s
mission and vision; Sexual Assault Awareness Month, National Youth Violence
Prevention Week, National Child Abuse Prevention Month, Denim Day and National
Volunteer Appreciation Week. Incline and Truckee High Schools’ Teen Peace
Projects, a youth club ran by Tahoe SAFE Alliance, did some amazing awareness
and outreach to their peers to recognize Sexual Assault Awareness Month.

Teen Peace Project teens at both
Incline and Truckee High Schools joined together to travel to Reno to tour the
Kid Kottage Kampus center where SART examinations are done. SARTs,
or Sexual Assault Response Teams, are multidisciplinary interagency teams of
individuals working collaboratively to provide services for the community by
offering specialized sexual assault intervention services. These specialized services are provided by
trained individuals, such as nurses, detectives and rape crisis center advocates.
Debra Robison, a licensed sexual assault examiner nurse for both adult and
pediatric, gave the tour. During the tour she informed the students that 155
adult and 49 children exams were conducted last year. Although the tour was a
somber and eye opening experience for the high school students, they also felt
some comfort that compassionate medical services for rape survivors exist in
our area.

Denim Day is a yearly awareness day
recognizing Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Denim Day was originally triggered
by a ruling by the Italian Supreme Court where a rape conviction was overturned
because the justices felt that since the victim was wearing tight jeans she
must have helped her rapist remove her jeans, thereby implying consent. This decision did not recognize that coercion,
threats, and force are part of the act of rape. (For more information visit;
http://denimdayusa.org/about/history/ ) The Truckee High School Teen Peace Project
held a week long raffle for this one day event. They spent Monday thru Thursday
passing out buttons, informing students about Denim Day and encouraging
students to wear jeans on Friday.
Participatory students were entered in the raffle to win a basket full
of donated prizes!

During the month of April, Teen
Peace Project students at both high schools wanted to extend awareness beyond
Sexual Assault during April. They chose to raise awareness in their school and
amongst their peers about the need to end Sexual Harassment and the importance
of Healthy Relationships. The clubs designated a week to each of the topics,
and within those weeks used posters and the morning announcements to share
statistics and information with the student body.

It was inspiring to see our local
youth motivated, excited and enthusiastic to participate in Sexual Assault
Awareness Month as well as create awareness among their peers! It was also moving to see our local schools
supportive of school-wide campaigns around the topic of Sexual Assault. The Teen Peace Projects energy has carried
over to May which is National Teen Self-Esteem Awareness month. Check out, and like, their Facebook page to
see what they’re up to (https://www.facebook.com/TeenPeaceProject?ref=hl)!

Wednesday, March 5, 2014

My name is Kassi Reisbeck and I am serving at Tahoe SAFE
Alliance as an AmeriCorps member. I work with the Prevention Program team on
outreach and awareness to teens in our community. Part of my prevention duties is running a club
in Truckee High School, Teen Peace Project, which is a peer-based group focused
around healthy relationships and respect. On February 14th some of my club
members and I participated in an awesome movement that I am excited to share with
everyone!

On February 14th community members from North
Lake Tahoe and Truckee gathered at the train station to watch, cheer, and dance
to a flash mob representing the global campaign One Billion Rising. Started in
2012, One Billion Rising is a global campaign to end violence again women, rise
for justice, and promote gender equality. The “billion” refers to the UN
statistic that one in three women will be raped or beaten in their lifetime, or
about one billion.

Last year, a one-day event was held, a call for one billion
women around the world to join together to dance in a show of collective
strength. This one day flash mob
culminated a global action to end violence against women with tens of thousands
of events held in more than 190 countries! This year on February 14th
even more stood up and became a voice in the name of justice for gender
equality.

This was the first year for Truckee to participate in this
one day event and we had more people participate then we ever imagined. Jan
Rogers, a Truckee community member, was the go getter for this flash mob,
organizing the place, time, and choreography to the dance. She originally
planned the dance to go off at noon but decided to change it to 3:10 so youth
could be involved. This is when Tahoe SAFE Alliance and the Prevention Program
team planned to get participate in the event. Tahoe SAFE Alliance’s Prevention Program
collaborates with local school districts to provide violence prevention education
and facilitate youth empowerment groups.

When I mentioned the opportunity to participate in One
Billion Rising to my club members they really jumped on this opportunity! They
were extremely excited to participate in the flash mob and help raise awareness
locally. Jan was ecstatic to hear
teenagers wanted to get involved. The club members learned the dance at one of
their weekly club meetings and spent the rest of the week making signs for
people to hold at the flash mob.

Not only did the Truckee One Billion Rising event go
amazing, throughout the world this event was, in my eyes, life changing. Women
and men of all ages chose to rise up and speak out about the violence that is
happening around the world. The subject of Violence against women is a
difficult one to discuss and face for most people, cultures, and communities.
Whether it is considered taboo, a non-issue, or private matters, a wall of
silence often envelopes the issue, making it one of the most entrenched and
difficult human rights violations to dislodge and eradicate.Fortunately more and more
people are rising up and becoming that voice. The Truckee event showed that, in
full motion, and I could not be happier with the results!